Letter opener



' Jul 8, 1941. E, TR LL 2,248,140

LETTER OPENER Filed Deb. 11, 1939 Patented July 8, 1941 2,248,140 LETTER OPENER Martin nf'rrbuen, St. Paul, Miran, assignor to Brown & Bigelow, St. Paul, Minn, a corporation of Minnesota Application December 11, 1939, Serial No. 308,627 4 Claims. (Cl. Bil-$42) My invention relates to an improvement in letter openers or a similar device in Which a blade must be attached to a handle.

Because of the popularity which articles formed partly of plastic have attained during recent years, it is desired to provide a letter opener or similar bladed instrument with a handle formed of plastic material. Such a handle, however, has certain undesirable features when used on a device of this sort. In the first place, unless the handle is formed of solid plastic, there is grave danger of splitting the handle as the instrument is used. In the second place,there is a tendency for the blade to move lengthwise within the handle, and such longitudinal movement of the blade must be resisted by small areas of the plastic. Thus a considerable longitudinal strain upon the blade will compress or deform the plastic and permit the blade to become loose upon the handle. Furthermore, with most types of handles, considerable assembly work must be done in assembling the blade upon the handle.

It is the purpose of my invention to provide a letter opener which combines a blade of metal or the like with a handle of plastic material or other similar material, and to accomplish this combination in a manner which will provide considerable strength at the point of connection. While the handle may be formed of comparatively thin plastic material, the blade is arranged in such a manner that the end of the blade is supported by reinforcing mean-s within the handle which do not detract from theappearance of the instrument, but which provides the needed strength. Furthermore, my construction is such that the blade may be assembled in a minimum of time.

It is a feature of my invention to provide a hollow plastic handle having a closed end thereupon provided with a slit through which the anshoring end of the blade may extend. This slit in the handle end provides a support which prevents rotation of the blade with respect to the handle, and as the flat portion of the blade end rests against the sides of the slots throughout the width of the blade, a firm bearing is provided to prevent rotation. v

It is a feature of my invention to provide a reinforcing sleeve within the plastic barrel adjacent the end thereof of a diameter to fit closely about the anchoring end of the blade. This reinforcing sleeve transmits any strain from the blade to the sleeve, which in turn distributes the strain over a large area of plastic, thus preblade from outward movement.

venting the splitting of the plastic by pressure upon the blade.

It is a feature of my invention that the reinforcing sleeve is held in place against the closed end of the handle by means of locking shoulders on the anchoring end of the blade which engage over the end of the reinforcing sleeve. These shoulders prevent the blade from being pulled out of the'slotted end ofthe handle and hold the reinforcing sleeve interposed between these locking shoulders and the closed handle end.

It is a feature of my invention that the anchoring end of the blade is slotted longitudinally to provide a bifurcated end structure to permit easy assembly of the blade and handle. After the reinforcing sleeve is in place within the handle, the anchoring end of the blade is compressed together, the bifurcated ends of this anchoring portion being drawn together under spring tension during the insertion of the blade into the handle. When the locking shoulders pass the inner end of the reinforcing sleeve, these shoulders snap out into engagement with the inner end of the reinforcing sleeve, holding the sleeve in place and simultaneously locking the The blade is so designed as to provide large shoulders between the anchoring end and the remainder of the blade, which shoulders may engage the reinforced end of the handle to prevent further inward movement of the blade. Thus when the blade has once been inserted in place, the lock- .ing shoulders and the shoulders between the anchoring ends of the blade and the remainder of the blade prevent longitudinal movement of the blade with respect to the handle in either direction.

It is a further feature of my invention to provide a thin metallic closure for the opposite end of the handle so that the inside of the handle may be sealed. This end closure may fit under spring tension within the open end of the handle.

These and other objects and novel features of my invention will be more clearly and fully set forth in the following specification and claims.

In the drawing forming a part of my specification:

Figure 1 is a side elevation view of the letter opener in assembled form.

Figure 2 is a side elevation view of the blade removed from the handle.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view through the blade, the position of the section being indicated bythe line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section through the against the outer extremity of the sleeve" 24;"

The letter opener A includes a handle it] and" The blade H may be of any dea blade ll. sired conformation, but inthe form shown is provided with a tapered end I2 evenly taperedon both sides of the longitudinal center of the blade. The preferred shape of the blade when used for a letter opener is shown in Figure 3-01 the drawing, although the specific formof the outer end of the blade is not believed an important feature of the present construction.

The inner end of the blade is flattened as shown atl3 and attached to this flattened'end 13 is a bifurcated end portion M of restricted width. The restriction in width of the bifurcated end-l'4-provides a pair of shoulders l-which engage the end of the handle in a manner-which will'be later described. The anchoring end I4 of-the blade I I is provided with a longitudinal slot 16 providing two bifurcated ends l1. Each of the ends I! are provided with an outwardly extending portion l9 forming a shoulder ZII between the projecting portions l9 and the remaining portion of the bifurcated ends 11. The handle H1 is generally tubular iii-shape as' best illustrated in Figure 4 of the drawing. This handle Ii! is provided with an outwardly bulged or rounded closed end 2| which is provided with a transversely extending slot 22 This slot 22- extendsentirely through the outwardly rounded closedend portion 2! and" terminates inshoulders 23 at the end of the barrel l0.

- A-sleeve 24 of metal or similar material is positioned within the end of the handle lit-ad'- jacentthe closed end 2|. closelyagainst the shoulder 25'formed by the end 2| and is held from longitudinal movement in one direction bythis shoulder 25; The sleeve 24-extends into the handle H] a distance just su-flicient to correspond in length with the bifurcated'ends ll, between the'shoulders20 andtlfe shoulders I 5.-

After the sleeves 24 have been inserted-in the handle Ill and are held therein under friction, the bifurcated ends l! of the blade squeezed together and the anchoringend ll of the blade is inserted through the slot 22-." As

theends I! are compressed together; the projecting portions IQ'engage theinner surface'of the sleeve 24 and may be slidably moved-through this sleeve. When the projections ISreach-th'e end of the sleeve 24, however, the bifurcated ends i'l' spring apart and the shoulders fll engage the inner extremity of the sleeve- 24 preventing outward-movementof the blade II. Simultaneously, the shoulders l5 on the blade engage the shoulders 23 adjacent the slot 22 on the handle H), so that the blade is prevented from inward movement. The; frictional engagement between the sleeve 2G and the handle ID also reinforces the shoulders 23 adjacenttheslot 24, as inward movement of the blade with respect to the handle would cause the shou-ldersl5'-to bear not only'against theshoulders-23*but' also II are In order to accomplish the desired result, it is necessary either to form the blade ll out of sufficiently resilient material to cause the bifurcated ends l1 to spring apart after passing the end of the sleeve 24, or else to'spread these arms after the blade is in place. In preferred form the blade is formed of material which will spring apart-sufficiently to accomplish the desired result.

At therend of the handle I!) opposite the closed end 2| I enlarge the internal diameter of the tubular handle 10 as indicated at 26. This provides a shoulder 21 within the tubular member ID ata point spaced from the outer handle end. A cap-29-Which-Inay be of metal or may be of plastic-material is inserted in this enlarged diameter portion 26-, the end of the cap engaging the shoulder 21, limiting inward movement of thecap: This cap 29 closes the outer end of the handle to prevent any material from entering the interior of the handle and also to improve-the appearance of the letter opener.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described the principles of construction of my letter openerg andwvhile I have endeavored to set forth the:bestembodiment thereof, I desire to hav'e it-understood=that this is only illustrati ve of a-'m'eans'ofcarrying out my invention and that obvious changes may be made within the scope of I the following claims without departing from the spi-rit of my invention.

1. A bladed instrument comprising a blade, a bifurcated resilient endthereupon, shoulder mean's'on saidend; a h'andle comprising a tu- 'bul-armem-berga sleeve therein of an inner diameter less -th-an-thedistancebetween said shoulder means a closed end on said tubular member througlfwhiehlsaid blade extends, said end extending through said sleeve and i said shoulder means-thereon engaging an end of saidsleeve, Y the other end of =said-sleeve engaging said closed end;

2; A-bladed' instruinent comprising a blade, a bi-furcated -end thereon; a shoulder means betweensaid end' and the-remainder of'the blade,

atubular: handle having a closed end thereon, a'sl'otinsaid closed end through which said blade end extends, an inwardly projecting sleeve in said lfandle of aninner diameter to encircle said bifurcated end-, shoulder'means on saidbifurcated endlengagable with amendof said sleeve, the other end of said sleeveengaging said closed 3.=-Ai.bladed' instrument comprising a tubular handle, a closed end thereupon-, a slot in said end, a sleeve in said 'handle adjacent said end, a blade,

2. bifurcated end-thereon extending through said slot,- apsho ulderbetween said blade and said'bifurcated end engageable with. said handle, and

shoulder meanspn saidi bifurcatediend engagable with -said.sl'eeve,: said sleeve being, held between said :sh'oul'dermeans and said closed handle end. 4. Abla-ded instrument comprising a blade, a

flat bifurcated-shank thereupon, shoulder. means on'sa-idshank, ahollow handle having a closed end having a-slot therein to receive said shank,

shoulder sleeve meansin-saidhandle cooperable with-said shouldermeanson said end to prevent movement of said'blade in saidslot in one direction} and 'a secondsh'oulder means on said blade cooperable with saidhandle adjacent said slot to preventmovement'of" said blade in saidslot in the opp'osite' 'direction.. V I

MARTIN 

